The message a colleague forwarded was suspicious on the face of it – one of those e-mails addressed to a zillion folks I’d never heard of (save for my colleague) with an all-caps subject line: CHANGE IN MILITARY FUNERAL LANGUAGE!!!

The writer, who identified himself as a “George Childs,” was himself forwarding two “messages” from people claiming that President Obama has “taken off the gloves” by ordering that the officer who presents the folded American flag to the deceased’s survivor at a military funeral no longer evoke the office of the president in expressing the nation’s gratitude but to instead say, “On behalf of the secretary of defense and a grateful nation …”

In other words, the president “does not want his name affiliated with our military.”

“Mr. Childs” prefaced this shocking news by reassuring his readers that he checked with the respected rumor-quashing web site Snopes and “it is TRUE.” And the writer added a stern warning: “You can be sure the news media will not even say one word about this. They are too busy tearing down Romney. This deserves wide circulation!!!!!!!!”

Here’s what deserves wide circulation, particularly as this election campaign roars into its final month: This message, and likely every other of its ilk, are total lies, unmitigated B.S., and the people spreading them are foaming-at-the-mouth ideologues who in trying to subvert the democratic process demonstrate that they are more un-American than the purported “activities” they try to publicize.

Just for the record, here’s what Snopes really said about the funerals hoax.

There’s more. (!!!) In the same e-mail, a writer claimed that Obama has decreed that “NO U.S. SERVICEMAN CAN SPEAK AT A FAITH-BASED PUBLIC EVENTS ANYMORE.” He went on to say, “You’re just starting to see the Obamanation. This is just how the Nazis did it in the 1930s – slowly, one step at a time.”

No. 1, the event in question wasn’t a religious event, but a fund-raiser. By policy, military personnel can take part in political, fund-raising or religious activities, but only while off duty and out of uniform. I’ll let Snopes debunk this.

Yet another message arrived in my in-box earlier this week claiming that Obama had the U.S. flag logo removed from the tail of Air Force One, replacing it with his “own logo.” In other words, he’s turned the president’s official aircraft into a flying campaign poster. There are photos on the Internet that prove this!

Most folks with a lick of sense know that unbelievable images like this — or of Obama and his wife Michelle holding their LEFT hands over their hearts during a ceremony — are the product of imaging-altering software such as Photoshop. But those who work to manipulate public opinion — especially, in this election season, certain campaign officials who make an art out of generating less obvious untruths in speeches and political ads — know that a.) first impressions are often lasting, b.) it’s easy to go overboard now and apologize later, and c.) if you throw enough stuff at the wall, some of it will stick.

Therein lies the danger. As the educator Laurence J. Peter, author of the immortal The Peter Principle, once said, “It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.”